International Transit
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
Usually I write my blog from my office at home or at my desk at work, but this week is a little different. As I write this, I’m sitting at a desk in a hotel room in Madrid. I’ve been in Spain for a little more than five days now on a trade mission sponsored by the Instituto Español de Comercio Exterior (ICEX) and MAFEX, the Spanish association of rail equipment and services manufacturers and exporters.
So what am I doing here? The last few days have been spent seeing how transit works outside of North America — well, at least how transit works here in Spain. This has been a prime opportunity for me to get a point of reference on transit in the larger world market and how the systems we visit in North America measure up. And you know what? We’re not that bad.
When I started at Mass Transit I was told we weren’t to cover transit agencies in Europe since they were so far advanced in comparison to the U.S. market and therefore whatever information I found out wouldn’t be of much use to MT’s readers. Having seen the transit agencies in several Spanish cities now, I don’t know if that is the case anymore.
Today was a grand tour of the Consorcio Transportes Madrid (think RTA Madrid), including a tour of the Metro Madrid operations center. As I stood there in Metro Madrid’s operations center, I couldn’t help but think I had seen a lot of this before. I’ve toured operations centers with NJ Transit, MTA Baltimore, Denver RTD, TransLink and others and as I watched, I realized a lot of what I saw before me I could identify. And when I mentioned that what we had in the United States was very similar, my guides said to me, “It’s the same all over the world.”
For those of you reading, what do you think? Want to see coverage of international agencies? Want to see how people are doing things in other places of the world? Mind you Madrid’s agency does have a lot of differences to ones in the states (especially when it comes to funding), but even those differences might spark an idea or two.
Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Thursday.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:36 am
I would be very interested in how its done in Europe. We are working hard here to get high speed rail uptodate and as you said it might spark some ideas on how to get it fully funded and/or operated to make ends meet. Thank you for your service.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:50 am
If they do it better “over there” we should be copying as much as possible. A wider view of practices and procedures can only help us to develop better practices and procedures for our own Authorities.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
I think more coverage of overseas systems would be useful. It helps to see how other countries address public transit issues, whether they are successful or not.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Though I don’t have any direct ties to the Mass Transit Industry, my clients do. My belief is having an international perspective would be of value. It would not only show alternative processes and systems but perhaps validate ones already in place in the US.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
The public transit model for me in Europe is Frankfurt a Main, Germany, which is typical of mid-sized cities in that country. S-Bahn or commuter rail; U-Bahn or light rail; Strassenbahn or streetcar; and bus. All are interconnected, portions of some are in subways, fares are common to all in the FFM region.
Next time you fly to Europe via Frankfurt…very common…take a day and ride the S14 into the city and check out how it all works.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
I would appreciate international coverage. We have similarities and idfferences.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I agree that we should learn lessons from everywhere and not be parochial. Yes there are differences between wherever we live and other countries as well other parts of the US. We need to distinguish between differences that matter and those that don’t. We also need to acknowledge that even when there are differences there are also many similarities. Actually there is a human tendency to follow one of two extremes - blindly accept what we see elsewhere will work at our agency or blindly reject what we see work elsewhere because they are different. To be truly successful we need to avoid both extremes.
An example of each. When is comes to integrating transit services among multiple operators and modes the Germans are far superior to anything we do here in the US. Their “transit federation” is a model for integrating fares, routes, schedules and public information. I have been told the German model wouldn’t work in the US because they are different. When I was on a study mission in 2000 and listened to representatives of the systems we visited, I heard complaints about how everyone thought the funding mechanisms were unfair, small operators distrusted the big operators and on and on. It sounded just like the many discussions I have heard here in the US. I asked if these federations were purely voluntary and if it seems there is a lot of disagreement, how come they seem to work. The answer – it’s what the customer wants. I think we can learn a lot from the Germans on service integration – the differences between the two countries are not the reason it works there and not here – it is the attitude toward the customer, an attitude we should all have.
For several years politicians have been going to Curitiba Brazil to see BRT and coming back claiming the BRT will save the world – or at least their community. However they usually miss the bigger point. The reason for the success is the holistic or integrated approach to planning that occurred there. There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from Curitiba but it’s what makes transit work not the choice of mode that is the important lesson.
By all means look beyond the US, but in doing so put into context the real lessons to be learned.
June 7th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Yes! Tell us…but also include the amount of TIME these overseas systems take to implement & why (i.e. delivery methods/funding sources/priorities). Bet it’s eons less than here.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Fred,
International coverage? Absolutely! There are plenty of things we can learn from global public transport operations. Funding mechanisms is one that any North American transit operation should be keenly interested in learning about.
As a side note, operationally North American urban systems are on par with European systems when it comes to technology. Service frequency and rural public transport however, the Europeans can teach us a few things. However, in one area where U.S. public transport can teach the Europeans is in the provision of paratransit. The U.S. provides more comprehensive public transport to persons with disabilities than in Europe.
June 12th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
I would like to see more coverage of rail transit in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and in Japan. I understand that Mainland China is also implementing more rail service across the country.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Of course we should look at Europe….and Japan and Asia and the rest of the world, where they see mass transit as a necessity, not as the “last resort” mode of transit.
Over here,please interview the customers who use the service as well.